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Using coupons can be a bit overwhelming in the very beginning. It isn’t hard to do, but there are a lot of rules to learn and it may be confusing. This is a free coupon course that you can do online in your free time and it may simplify things if you are struggling getting started using coupons.
Has anyone given this a try before? If you have, leave us a comment and let us know how you liked it.
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I have 4 subscriptions to the Sunday paper which is usually enough for us. Every once in a while though, there is such a great deal that I need extra coupons to stock up. Last week at Albertsons, they had Arrowhead Aquapods on sale for $1. When combined with the $1.50/2 coupons that came out in last Sunday’s paper that made each case of water only $0.25. While I generally prefer the greener option of using a reusable water bottle, for $0.25 I’ll stock up and use it for my emergency water storage.
I ordered extra coupons through ebay on Monday morning. The coupons I’ve ordered online in the past have come fairly quickly so I was keeping my fingers crossed that they would show up on Tuesday before the sale at Albertsons ended but I knew that probably wasn’t too likely. The coupons showed up on Wednesday and even though I was disappointed that the Ablertsons sale didn’t carry over, I was excited that Stater Brothers was offering the same deal. I’m heading there over the weekend to stock up on water. Where I will put 40 cases of water I haven’t a clue but since I’m buying it mostly for emergency water storage I can take advantages of hard to reach places under the bed and in the back of closets.
The sale will go through next Wednesday so if you move fast there’s still time to order extra coupons online and get them before the sale ends.
Arrowhead Aquapod 9 pk – Sale $1 at Stater Brothers
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I love weeks when I can go grocery shopping and I don’t need to buy anything that is on sale. For our family of 5, I try and keep our monthly grocery bill under $300. We’ve been working on restocking our pantry since we moved but now we have a pretty good store of food so we typically don’t need to buy much.
Albertson’s had some great deals this week. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that the extra arrowhead water coupons I bought off ebay will be here today so I can take advantage of the sale. You can’t see them well in this picture but there are 6 cases of water hidden in there that I got for $0.25 each.
With the exception of the cantaloupe and steak in this picture, everything I bought was non-perishable so while it does still have to be rotated, it has a long shelf life. Buying non-perishables in bulk is a great way to stock your pantry and keep a stockpile of food in case of an emergency or to tide you over until the next sale cycle.
I’ve changed my thinking about bulk food. When I used to think about buying food in bulk, I thought of going to Costco or shopping the bulk food aisle of the local grocery store (you know, where you find the enormous cans of tomato paste that promise to go bad before you can ever possibly eat the whole thing). Now, when I think of bulk food shopping, I primarily look to my Sunday coupon inserts. I use Costco pricing as a guide and try and beat it by combining coupons with sale prices. Once I find a good deal, I then buy enough of each item to get me through the next several months (or longer) until I can count on the item going on sale again. If you play the game the right way, it ends up being much cheaper shopping with coupons than it is buying in bulk from Costco or another discount warehouse.
Pay attention to prices as you shop. I now know that there are several items I usually can’t beat Costco’s pricing on (for ex. maple syrup). For those things, I stop by Costco every month or so and stock up, knowing that I won’t be able to get a better deal anywhere else.
Everything purchased above can be found in my Albertson’s grocery deal matchup for this week. There were a few things on my list that I couldn’t find at my local store but I was still able to stock up on some basics. Included in this trip were 2 packages of steaks, 1 cantaloupe, 1 box of cereal, 4 boxes of pancake mix, 6 cases of water bottles, 3 tubes of toothpaste, 4 jars of salsa, 2 packs of applesauce, 4 boxes of mac & cheese, 4 packs of goldfish crackers, 12 boxes of pasta, and 3 cans of diced tomatoes.
Grand Total: $41.62
That is a savings of $92.18!
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Coupon shopping doesn’t take much more time than it usually takes to plan a weekly menu. I’ve gotten it down to where I only spend about an hour a week between planning my shopping trip and cutting coupons – well worth the time considering what I save as a result of that. The one place where there’s no denying that coupon shopping takes added time though is in the checkout line. I often break up shopping trips into several smaller trips to take advantage of the best sales from several stores (and to avoid losing my mind if I’m shopping with kids) but when I make a large grocery shopping trip I try and warn people in the line behind me so they won’t be annoyed.
I took a trip to Von’s today and filled an entire cart with all of their back-to-school deals. I probably have enough snacks to get through 6 months of school lunches now but the people standing behind me in line were less than thrilled. They stood in line and grumbled about every coupon as it was scanned and made what I’m sure they thought were witty remarks about people who use coupons. Since they were standing less than 2 feet away from me I have to assume they knew I could hear them. I do think they stopped grumbling a bit when the cashier said, “Thank you. You saved $170.00 today.”
I generally go into the grocery store fairly prepared so I rarely run into more than the slightly irritated cashier. There are some things you can do to speed up your time in the checkout line when shopping with coupons and minimize the effect your thrifty habits have on other shoppers.
Ever store has a different coupon policy. Know what your store’s policy is before shopping. Von’s doubles coupons up to a value of $1.00 so I often try and shop there, but there coupon policy is stricter than most. For example, they only allow 3 duplicate coupons to be used in 1 transactions (although I have gotten away with 4 several times after getting a manager’s approval). Albertson’s, on the other hand, will allow as many coupons as you have, but will only double coupons if you have a doubler coupon (from the Sunday paper or in-store coupon book) and then they only allow you to use as many doubler coupons as came in that specific ad.
Knowing the store’s coupon policy before you shop can also help you increase your savings. I’ve run into several cashiers who haven’t understood what their store’s coupon policy was and didn’t want to allow me to get the savings I was planning on. If you know the store’s coupon policy, you can ask them to check with their manager, who is more likely to know what the policy really is, and allow you to save more money.
Grocery cashiers need to be able to fit your coupons into their register drawer. If you hand them a store ad with a coupon on the page, they have to take the time to cut out the coupon while you are in line. Some coupons may be connected to another coupon for a product of the same brand. It’s much easier to cut out one large coupon but it will save you time in the checkout line if you cut them apart while at home. Cut all coupons, including store ad coupons, before shopping and try and stack them nicely so it’s easier for the cashier to scan them one at a time.
Nothing drives grocery cashiers crazier than buy one get one free coupons. The cashier has to manually enter the price of the item in order for you to get the discount, which requires knowing what the price of the item is. If you have a cart full of groceries, it can be time consuming for the cashier to scan your full receipt or dig through your already reloaded grocery cart to find the product to determine the price. Pay attention to the price of BOGO coupons, write it down if you need to, and give that price to the cashier when he gets to your coupon. This will allow them to quickly scan the receipt to confirm the price and get back to checking you out.
The checkout line closest to the door is usually the busiest. Take the time to go to a less crowded line further away from the door to avoid holding up as many people. This isn’t just a service to other shoppers. A cashier who feels rushed is more likely to skip over savings you should have in an effort to move the line along faster. Going for a slower checkout line gives you the chance to watch as your shopping cart is checked out, make sure everything rings up correctly, and sometimes get some great tips from the cashier. I’ve had cashier’s give me additional coupons when they’ve had the time to do it.
How do you speed up the process when shopping with coupons?
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